Google Stock Soars Over $1,000 After Positive Q3 Earnings

Google stock opened at $976 and hit a high of $1,015 per share less than 24 hours after its Q3 revenue numbers surpassed analysts' estimates on Oct. 17.

Google stock today did what has been rumored for months: It surpassed the magic $1,000 per share mark, coming less than 24 hours after the company on Oct. 17 unveiled its generally positive earnings numbers for the third quarter of 2013.
Google stock opened at $976.31 on NASDAQ, according to figures being tracked by Yahoo Finance, then went as high as $1,015.42 by early afternoon before lingering at the $1,011.01 per share mark by 2:50 p.m. EDT, and closing at $1,011.41.
The rising stock performance accompanies the company's pleasing third-quarter revenue and profit numbers, which beat analysts' estimates, with revenue coming in at $14.89 billion and profits of $2.97 billion, according to figures released Oct. 17 by the company during an earnings call with financial analysts. The $14.89 billion revenue total was up 12 percent from the same quarter a year ago, while the $2.97 billion profit was up from the $2.18 billion profit that was posted in the third quarter of 2012, according to the company. The third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2013.
The rising stock price for Google, coming on the heels of the good third-quarter numbers, is not a fluke, two industry analysts told eWEEK.

"Where I see them going is that they continue to get smart and they have a lead in the industry and they're continuing to hire the best and brightest folks with search in mind," said

Daniel Maycock, an analyst with Slalom Consulting. "They know their core business so well that as long as success doesn't go to their heads and they don't become their own worst enemies, they will continue to do well."
Google is doing several things right at once, he said, with its innovative Google Glass project soon heading to market, its ultra-fast Google Fiber Gigabit Internet and TV services beginning to get traction and its development and research with self-driving cars continuing to attract attention. "Any one of those three projects could be potentially explosive in terms of disrupting the industry today," said Maycock. "Not only has Google showed their innovation despite all the pessimism about those three projects, but they are running their [search and advertising] business pretty well on top of that."
What's yet to be seen, he said, is whether Google's success in search and advertising will translate into success in the worlds of vehicles and Google Glass. One thing is for sure, said Maycock, is that the company still has plenty of potential in new markets.

"I think that Google has another big business in the fold," he said. "I don't know which of those three it will be. Maybe one of those three are going to be it."
One move that Google is making that bodes well for the future is that it is "getting a lot more critical about killing projects that don't have the horsepower that's needed to really keep Google successful, profitable and meeting expectations," said Maycock. "I think at some point the only place to go is down, but they're not there yet."
Dan Olds, an independent analyst with Gabriel Consulting Group, said that these are good times for Google, which "just performs, year in and year out."
The latest stock prices topping $1,000 aren't an aberration, said Olds. "Their numbers support this," he said. "I don't think that this flirtation with 1,000 is frothy over-exuberance by investors. I think the Google valuation isn't really out of line, based on the history."